The Flying Tigers

Claire Chennault and the American Volunteer Group

The Flying
Tigers were a group of
American fighter pilots that flew for
China in the early part of 1942. Led by a controversial American,
Colonel Claire Chennault, they were actually called the "American
Volunteer Group" (AVG), and achieved good success in their aerial
battles against the Japanese.

They were a relatively small group, and never had more
than 100 Curtis Warhawk P-40's (decorated with the famous red shark
mouth) available.

But at the time they were flying (early 1942), they
were the only Americans doing ANYTHING against the Axis. With an
American public reeling from Pearl Harbor and anxious to strike back
"NOW!" the Flying Tigers were "the only game in town" at that point.
Thus they received a lot of favorable press coverage, from reporters
anxious to write about the only only Americans doing ANYTHING ANYWHERE
against the Japanese.

The Flying Tigers comprised three squadrons:

1st Squadron - "Adam and Eves"

2nd Squadron - "Panda Bears"

3rd Squadron - "Hell's Angels"

The top aces of the Flying Tigers were: David
Lee "Tex" Hill, Robert Neale, and Chuck
Older. James Howard flew with the AVG; he later earned the
Congressional Medal of Honor while flying P-51s for the 354th Fighter
Group (Ninth Air Force) in Europe. Pappy
Boyington was another Tiger who went on to greater fame; he had a
falling out with Chennault, who gave him a Dishonorable Discharge. The
mercurial Boyington never forgave him.

"Colonel" Claire Lee Chennault had been in China since the
mid-Thirties; he called himself "Colonel," though his highest rank had
been Major. An outspoken advocate of "pursuit" (as fighter planes were
called then), in an Army Air Force dominated by strategic bomber
theorists, he alienated many of his superiors. But in China, equipped
with P-40's, he developed the basic fighter tactics that American
pilots would use throughout the war. The Japanese planes used over
China were much more maneuverable than his Warhawks, whose advantages
were: speed in a dive, superior firepower, and better ability to absorb
battle damage. Chennault worked out and documented the appropriate
tactics that capitalized on the relative strengths of the American
fighters: intercept, make a diving pass, avoid dogfighting, and dive
away when in trouble. This remained the fundamental U.S. fighter
doctrine throughout the Pacific War.

My appreciation of the pilot's bravery and Chennault's tactical skills,
however, doesn't change my assessment of the unfortunate and perhaps
distracting role they played. The Chinese politics and Chinese-American
relations at the time were quite complicated. The titular leader of
China, Generalissimo Chiang Kai Chek, of the Kuomintang, was engaged in
an endless three-way war: his Kuomintang vs. Mao's Communists vs.
Japan. And his own power within the Kuomintang was dependent on
balancing various warlords, cliques, and factions. Given the
understandable problems posed by this situation, he always wanted more
and more American aid, which he and his generals then wanted to use
against internal enemies as well as Japan, or perhaps, not to use at
all, but to hoard as symbols of their power.

General Chennault, got the Generalissimo's ear, and persuaded him
that air power could sweep the Japanese from China, almost effortlessly
and painlessly, just a few score American B-17 bombers would do the
trick. Thus Chiang Kai Chek, General Chennault, Madame Chiang Kai Chek,
and the powerful China Lobby used their combined influence with the
American government to push Chennault's air power scheme.

Unfortunately, addressing real issues in Nationalist China --
development of democratic or at least stable institutions, the rooting
out of corruption in the Kuomintang, the training and deployment of
useful Chinese infantry forces against Japan, improving the life of the
ordinary villagers, etc. -- had no priority with the Generalissimo.
Chennault's proposals seemed to offer such a promising way out.

The American government had its own problems, and couldn't scrape up
the numbers of bombers envisioned. But keeping China in the war against
Japan was understood to be in America's strategic interest (even before
Pearl Harbor). What could be offered to Chiang was about 100 Curtis
P-40 Warhawk fighter planes with volunteer military pilots to fly them.
They fought with distinction, largely in the defense of Burma, and were
absorbed into the United States Army Air Force's 23rd Fighter Group in
July, 1942.

The Lady's Story

These plans came together in July, 1941, when Chennault began to
organize the American Volunteer Group (AVG). He acquired a chief of
staff, Captain Harvey Greenlaw (who followed his boss's lead and
promoted himself to Major), in Hong Kong in July, 1941. Along with
Harvey came his beautiful wife, Olga Greenlaw, who kept the
Group's War Diary and wrote about her experiences in The
Lady and the Tigers. (The following paragraphs are based on
her book. - ed.)

In August, 1941, the AVG started training in Toungoo, Burma, 175
miles north of Rangoon. Jack Newkirk, Sandy Sandell, John Armstrong,
Red Probst, Oley Olson, Bob Little, Pete Atkinson, and other pilots
were learning to fly Curtiss P-40's from a primitive airstrip. In these
early days, they didn't have too much to do: flight training, drinking,
fighting, and hunting. The lack of women (in the 1940's, read "white"
women) was also a problem; Olga's personal role in alleviating that
problem has been the subject of considerable gossip and speculation
over the years.

The Flying Tigers were still training, they hadn't flown their first
combat mission, when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. As the Japanese
threatened one Allied city after another, the British asked for a
squadron of Flying Tigers to help defend Rangoon. Oley Olson's Third
Squadron, "Hell's Angels," headed south, while the bulk of the AVG flew
up to Kunming, to protect the terminus of the Burma Road. On December
20, the AVG engaged Japanese bombers for the first time, downing four
and disrupting their bombing raid on Kunming. Over Burma, the Third
Squadron also met with success, claiming six on the 23rd and ten on the
25th; before Jack Newkirk's Second Squadron relieved them.

In January, eight pilots of the First Sqn. flew to Burma to
reinforce Newkirk, among them Greg
Boyington, whom Olga described as "a frequent caller ... popping in
at odd times for coffee or whatever." He returned to the AVG in Kunming
in time to participate in a bomber escort mission on January 22.
Chinese pilots, flying Russian-made SB-2's, attacked Hanoi. Sandy
Sandell reported that the bombers' poor formation flying rendered both
the escort and the bombing ineffective. "If we'd met any Japs, we'd
have been dead pigeons."

By January 24, the Flying Tigers had claimed 73 Japanese planes,
while losing 5 of their own. Japanese records indicate they had lost
about one-third that many, mostly bombers. Olga's "dear, silly Sandy"
and Boyington were soon rotated to Burma, where Newkirk's handful of
weary Warhawks continued to punish the Japanese bombers. On February 7,
Sandell was testing a P-40 with a repaired tail; it stalled and spun
in, killing him on impact. The plane was destroyed so completely that
only the right wheel and tail wheel were salvageable.

Through mid-February of 1942, the Japanese advances continued;
Singapore fell and Rangoon became untenable. About this time,
Generalissimo and Madame Chiang Kai Chek hosted a dinner in honor of
the AVG. Olga's version of the speeches is replete with sentiments
like, "Boys .. you are angels, with or without wings," and "the
indomitable courage of the Chinese people," and "a bond of friendship
and friendship which serves us well in the crucible of war, and will
serve us equally well when vistory is ours." Oblivious to the speeches,
the war, and particularly, the Japanese in Burma, pressed on. The AVG
contingent (the Third Squadron replacing the First) pulled back to an
airdrome at Magwe in early March. On the 9th, Rangoon finally fell. The
Group held a funeral (for some officers killed in a CNAC plane crash),
a wedding (for Daffy Davis and Doreen), and a birthday party (for
Olga). One of the pilots, Tom Jones, gave her a .25 caliber Colt
pistol.

When her work as squadron diarist, newspaper editor, and den
mother/confidante overwhelmed her, she did what any proper lady of that
era did. She checked herself into the hospital for a week's rest. While
there, she heard about the raid on Chiang Mai, when Jack Newkirk was
killed. The Chiang Mai raid, in which four Flying Tigers destroyed
fifteen Japanese planes on the ground (3.75 apiece), was largely the
basis of Boyington's claim to have destroyed six Japanese planes with
the AVG. Also in late March, the AVG finally quit Burma, its forces on
that front re-assembled at Loiwing, just over the Chinese border.

During the spring of 1942, Chennault struggled to keep the AVG the
independent air force that it had been, reporting directly to Chiang
Kai Chek. Pressure mounted to subsume the AVG into the Chinese Army
under "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell or into the regular US Army Air Force.
Casualties kept mounting - Tom Jones and Bob Little were killed. During
a short trip to Delhi, India, Tex Hill and others speculated about
their futures in the USAAF. At this point, it became clear that the AVG
was going to disband, the 23rd Fighter Group, under Col. Robert L.
Scott, would take over its responsibilities. Tex hoped for a major's
commission.

In the end, only five AVG pilots joined the 23rd Fighter Group,
while nineteen went to work for CNAC, the Chinese National Airlines.
Many factors contributed to this. Some AVG pilots were former Marines
and Navy fliers, who weren't necessarily interested in flying for the
Army. Others, notably Boyington, has lousy disciplinary records, and
the USAAF didn't offer them commissions. Like Tex Hill, many felt that
their combat experience entitled them to higher ranks in the unblooded
Army Air Force. Finally, the USAAF officer responsible for inducting
the AVG men used very little tact and told them to sign up, on the
Army's terms, or else go home and face the draft boards.

Olga and Harvey Greenlaw returned to the States, where Olga penned The
Lady and the Tigers. Not long afterwards, their tempestuous
marriage finally ended, Olga remarried and Harvey moved to Mexico.

Interestingly, Colonel Robert L. Scott, author of the best-selling God
is my Co-Pilot, never was a Flying Tiger. He commanded its
successor organization, the 23rd F.G., but never served with the
American Volunteer Group.

Thus, while there can be no doubt about the courage, tenacity, and
tactical successes of the Flying Tigers, nor about the useful role they
played in boosting American morale at a critical point, strategically,
they typified so much that was wrong with the Nationalist Chinese
government and the American efforts to help the Chinese people.

I hope that these paragraphs do not annoy any of my loyal
visitors. If so, I highly recommend Barbara Tuchman's Stillwell and
the American Experience in China. She describes the background of
these years in China, with obvious sympathy for "Vinegar Joe"
Stillwell, a great American and friend of the Chinese people, but a
bitter foe of Chiang Kai Chek and Chennault. Her thoughtful and
fascinating study provides good insight on many of these issues.